Digital land power: the Australian Army’s cyber future

Earlier this year ASPI hosted a roundtable discussion on the strategic, technological and force structure adjustments that must be made so that the Australian Army can successfully adapt to the challenges, and exploit the opportunities, of cyberspace. The roundtable was a closed-door discussion under the Chatham House rule among representatives from the Army, the Department of Defence and academia. This report is the authors’ summary of the roundtable.

The discussions covered the framing of the challenge and a variety of different potential cyber postures. The group considered the importance of employing the right technology and individuals, generating appropriate policies, and finally the obstacles that need to be overcome.

This report is an overview of the conceptual and practical challenges that the Army will face in an effort to both exploit and secure its cyber capabilities. It includes clearly distinct assessments from the authors on how the Army should address those challenges.